Intel Charging $50 to Unlock CPU's Full Features

[delazaren]

Give me the 100% or else I'll buy from somewhere else.

 

[Reynod]

I am with zippy ...

 

[rhino13]

I deal with enough DRM on the software I buy, I don't need my processor clogging my bandwidth making sure it is legal as well.

Thanks but no thanks.

 

[mr_tuel]

I just KNOW my boss will want me to push this...he can forget about it!

 

[nottheking]

This is downright hilarious. With software applications, vendors can hide behind the DMCA's provisions of "thou shalt not circumvent DRM."

One cannot copyright CPUs; their IP is protected through patent alone.

Hence, Intel will have absolutely zero recourse against people that "unlock" the CPUs. According to US intellectual property law, it is 100% the right of the user thanks to the century-old and perfectly-established "First Sale Doctrine." Once you buy a patented device, what you do with it specifically is entirely up to you; the designer/maker/seller has zero legal grounds to dictate anything. Their only recourse is through their control over other services, such as warranties or subscription programs. (Xbox Live is a prime example)

So yes, with this, expect to see "unlock codes" or "CPU cracks" to start showing up. They'll be distributed for free, and the best part will be: they will be 100% legal. So there won't be any takedowns, because DMCA only protects COPYRIGHTED work; that's the 'C' part; it's not the Digital Millenium Patent Act.

What's interesting will be to see what Intel does to respond. Sure, there'll still be the entirely un-savvy people who will be fooled by Intel's scheme, (which while legal, is still kind of a scam) and will fork over $50 for something that is theirs if they only had the expertise for. (after all, there are still people who think that you can download RAM) Only applying this to non-enthusiast OEM machines can help focus on these less-knowledgeable people. But now they'll have to contend with the enthusiast crowd that will be paying the lesser price for the full product.

Intel could basically try two different things: they COULD raise the base price, (potentially lowering the "upgrade" costs) to price it closer to a CPU that already is "unlocked" anyway. Or they could simply stop the idea alltogether, and fire the guy that got such a poor idea. However, it's still possible that Intel could do neither; after all, Intel still blithely charges ahead with their Pentium and Celeron chips priced where they are, in spite the fact that AMD's Athlon IIs beat the ever-loving snot out of them for price-performance; $100 COULD get you a Pentium 6950... Or it could get you an Athlon II X4 635, with slightly better per-core performance... And four physical cores. Or the fabled Phenom II X3 740 Black Edition, with more per-core power, an extra core, and famed overclock/unlockability power. So yeah, it's quite possible Intel will just blindly pretend everything's all right, since they've been trying to sell badly hacked-down Core 2s to compete with AMD CPUs that compare with the non-hacked-down Core 2s.

 

[ratman6161]

Could be a good deal for enthusiasts because we will eventually figure out how to unlock it ourselves. If it can be done by software someone will come up with a way.

For the non-enthusiast though this is a poor deal. If you look at the processor specs and prices on NewEgg, it looks to me like if you increased the cache and turned on hyper threading on one of these chips, what you would effectively have is an i5-540, right? Well, the difference in price between a retail G6950 and a retail i5-6950 is $24.00. I think we can assume that the OEM's are paying lower prices than we are at retail but the difference between the two is the same. So at $50.00 for the unlock code, you definitely would have been way better off just buying an i5-540 to begin with. In fact, for the $50 price difference you could get an i5-550.

Then again, even for enthusiasts, if we were buying for unlocking and overclocking purposes, we would probably skip the "G" series and go to the i5 anyway.

So I really can't think of any situation where this is a good idea for the consumer except for possibly the enthusiast who is on an ultra low budget and has to scrape out every nickel and dime possible. But even then, the $24 on the total price of a system build seems like a poor bargain.

 

[g00fysmiley]

well.. people got the cpu they paid for. they likely paid less money due to intel disablign HT and possibly also some cache. though i'm curious if thse chips were binned for non hyper threading or less cache due to problems or not. it'd suck to buy somethign liek this to find out HT wasn't working on your cpu and thats why it was sold as such... not that the type of people who would buy somethign liek this would probably notice

 

[nforce4max]

Greedtel is at it again.

 

[hoofhearted]

Wait til Intel decides to integrate internet authorization into their microcode.

 

[Glacier]

Damn, Intel is really getting greedy. I will stick with my Phenom II 945, no need to "pay for full features" with AMD!

 

[jkflipflop98]

This part is a special 1-off test chip that's design is different to allow this kind of thing. Normally we use fuses or laser cut the circuitry to shut off the extra cache/dies/logic units. There's no re-enabling that without a very, very small soldering iron and a steady hand.

 

[back_by_demand]

So the G6951 is available for around $50
But if you pay an additional $50 you can boost it's performance.
OK.
Why not do this instead.
Pay $100 and get a better CPU to start with, that you can further OC as well.

 

[gnesterenko]

[citation][nom]ac21365[/nom]Of course! I'd love a Corvette that only went 60mph til I paid a "highway speeds" tax!Sigh... Of all the businesses to hop on the nickel-and-dime bus, Intel wasn't one I was expecting.[/citation]

Really? The guys that are charging $1K for a chip (and then another $1K for a chip 100Mhz faster sold to the same people who bought the original $1K chip). The guys that have 3 active sockets in the consumer desktop space?

Sorry, but this is *exactly* the behavior I expected from Intel - it just took them a little longer then I believed to just drop the pretense of having a customer-centric corporate culture.

And yea, this scheme is a sham to squeeze more money out of consumers while clearing out old inventory. I've never been an Intel fan, but I certainly have never been opposed to owning Intel products. News such as this really makes it tempting to boycott their whole product line... but alas, they are bringing LightPeak to the market, and the chances of that getting onto AMD chipsets in 2011 is about 0-5%... so perhaps I'll look the other way after-all...

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

 

[pinkfloydminnesota]

Yah, good theory on the patent law, but the bios and etc. is copyrighted, so to hack the cpu you'd violate the copyright ...

 

[coleipoo]

This is a great way to make money off of suckers who buy Gateway, Dell, HP, etc. As long as it doesn't hit the builder market, I'm ok.

 

[Pyroflea]

So.. after paying for my CPU... to actually use it I have to... pay for my CPU?

 

[awood28211]

This is super nuts. It costs Intel more to do it this way when the user doesn't upgrade... and probably costs them money on the back end all around. And lets face it... this is a down the road incentive for Intel. Average Joe buys a 2-core processor... lasts him 2-3 years and decides he wants an upgrade because he needs more speed... contacts Intel, gets his unlock code and viola, instant 4 cores and more cache and more performance. thanks Intel.

User never upgrades, intel spends more to put out the process to unlock it but never is used. User does upgrade and user pays 50 bucks in 3 years from now when Intel could have sold them a brand new processor costing 300 bucks + other new hardware from Intel or other vendors.

 

[kelemvor4]

It simply paves the way for piracy. Given the choice, my guess is many people would buy the neutered part and pirate the unlock.

 

[coggsman]

Man, Apple must be rubbing off on Intel since they hopped on board.

 

[f-14]

so this gimmick will just drive up an already overpriced cpu right? might be worth it for leadtek to make a socket adaptor again to make amd chips work on intel sockets. i'm all for intel killing their own product sales. for $50 more you can just buy a cheap new m/b and the bios should auto detect it's full capabilities, i can easily see computer stores pushing that latter idea esp. if it leads to a better upgrade path.